


Linked by darkness

by killerweasel



Category: Angel: the Series, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-19 00:32:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes strangers have more in common than they think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Linked by darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Lindsey was never a vampire in the series, but he is in this.

Title: Linked by darkness  
Fandom: _Sherlock/Angel_  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Jim Moriarty  
Word Count: 3,000  
Rating: R  
A/N: AU after _The Hounds of Baskerville_  
Warnings: mentions of torture, animal abuse  
Summary: Sometimes strangers have more in common than they think.

“Ow. What the hell?” I picked up the wallet from the ground. It had fallen from somewhere above me. I tilted my head back and could see the outline of a man standing on the edge of the roof of the flat in front of me. It looked like the guy was getting ready to jump.

I snapped the lock on the front door, but couldn’t pass over the barrier without an invitation. Swearing, I walked around to the side of the building. After checking to make sure no one was passing by, I started to climb up the side of the building, using the windows and bricks that stuck out just a little too far to scale it. By the time I reached the roof, my fingers were bleeding and I’d torn a couple of nails.

Crossing the roof took only a moment. My hand closed around the shoulder of the man on the ledge. He flailed, spinning his arms and almost toppling over the side. I pulled him backwards, sending him sprawling on his ass. “You dropped this, buddy.” I threw the wallet at his chest.

He blinked at me. “How did you get up here? I know I locked the door.”

“I took the long way.” I walked over to the edge and looked down. “That probably wouldn’t kill you. We’re not really up that high. Hurt you, yeah. Bust some bones for sure. Maybe if you made sure you landed on your head, then you might have had a chance in succeeding.”

“You think I was going to jump?” He actually giggled at me. “I just wanted to see if I could get someone’s attention.”

I gave him a look. “You certainly got mine.” Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I walked back over to where he was. “Normally, I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about someone possibly flinging themselves off a roof, but I kept thinking it would make a mess on the sidewalk that someone else would have to clean up.”

“So you climbed up the side of the building to ‘save’ me?” He got to his feet. “That’s amazing. How did you even manage that? Most people would never be able to do it.”

“I’m not most people.” I checked my fingers. They’d already started to heal over. I could see him looking at them too. He wasn’t just studying me; he was looking through me, trying to figure out how I ticked.

“How is that even possible? Your fingers should be a mess and yet, I can’t even see any tears in your flesh.” When he walked over for a closer look, he invaded my personal space. He reminded me of some of my clients back at the firm. Those were the ones who tended to make me nervous, not the demons, vampires, or other monsters. The monsters were predictable and they did what they did because it was in their nature.

“I heal fast.” I could see him figuring things out. It was actually rather amazing to watch. The moment he realized what I was, his eyes actually lit up.

“If I get back up on that ledge, will you pull me off again?”

“That depends on what you’re going to do when you’re on it.” I already knew I wasn’t going to be nearly as nice if he tried it again. I was strong enough to throw him across the entire roof. “If you’re just going to enjoy the view, that’s fine by me.”

He slid his hand into his jacket and winced. “I don’t suppose you know anything about medical treatment?”

When he pulled his hand free, the scent of fresh blood slammed into my nostrils. It overpowered the other smells of unwashed person, pain, and old wounds. “I know enough. I think I can handle stitching you up again, if that’s what’s needed.”

“You have no idea who I am, do you?”

No, but I had a fairly good idea what he was. “There wasn’t any id in that wallet you hit me with.” I gave him a small smile. “Does it matter? If I knew who you were, would I be afraid?”

“I don’t think you would.” He said it in a way that almost sounded surprised. “I get the feeling very little scares you. Am I right?”

“If you’ve seen and done some of the things I have, you’d feel the same.” I held my hand out. “Lindsey McDonald, vampire and former lawyer for Wolfram and Hart.” His eyes widened at the mention of the firm. I watched a number of things cross his face before he settled on a smile. It wasn’t a real smile, but it almost looked like one.

“Jim Moriarty.” He used his blood-coated hand to shake mine. I recognized the name. While Jim wasn’t a client of the firm, sometimes they had used him for consultations or when they didn’t want to be personally involved in something. “You’re the most interesting, non-boring thing that’s happened to me in the last few months.”

I stared at the blood on my palm for a moment before bringing my hand up to my mouth. He watched me lick it clean. “You don’t mind, do you? I hate to let good blood go to waste.”

“Go ahead.” This time when he smiled, it was real. “I don’t mind at all.”

\---

“Hold still or these are going to come out crooked.” I slid the needle into his flesh, closing the wound. Jim shifted his body, using some rather amazing curses. He was currently on his back on his bedroom floor wearing nothing but a rather fancy pair of silk boxers. The sheer number of bruises and cuts on his body was boggling. The only explanation he’d given me so far was that he’d allowed himself to be captured by someone high up in the government to get answers.

“I thought you were going to numb it first.” He squirmed again before slapping his hand on the floor. “It hurts.”

“You don’t have anything here to numb it with and the sun is up now, so I can’t exactly go out and get something to use. I wouldn’t get two feet away from the door before bursting into flame. If you think this hurts, try being on fire.” It had taken months for the scars on my arm to finally fade. “There is something I can do, but I don’t know if you...”

“Whatever it is, do it. There are at least three other wounds you’re going to need to stitch. They weren’t overly excited with patching me up after setting me free.” He made a few rude gestures. “At least they gave me suit back instead of making me wear those horrible clothes.”

“You’re giving me permission?” Jim nodded. “Fine. Do you prefer arm, thigh, or neck?”

“What?”

“Where do you want me to bite you? I take enough blood, you’ll pass out and then I can stitch everything before you wake up again.” I let my face shift and he gasped.

“Wow, that’s not exactly what I expected.” He reached out and touched my forehead. “Nice fangs, though. I like the eyes too.”

“Please tell me you weren’t hoping for sparkles.” He laughed. “I do have to say, those stupid books and films have made it a hell of a lot easier to feed now. The sheer number of people willing to let a vampire drink from them has skyrocketed.”

“If I say neck, is this going to get weird?” He rubbed a hand over his throat. “You seem like a nice vampire and all, but I don’t... I’m not really interested in... I’m going to shut up now.”

“I’ll keep my hands above the waist, okay?” I chuckled softly. “All that leaping up a tall building crap from earlier made me hungry anyway. Besides, there’s a huge difference between feeding and feeding with pleasure. I’ve been doing this for a while.”

Some of the tension left his body. “What do I need to do?”

“Just sit up. Then I need you to tilt your head so I can have better access to your throat. Most important though, when you feel me bite, do not move. I really don’t want to tear a chunk out of your neck.” If that happened, he’d be royally screwed. “You’ll be out for a couple of hours at the most. I’ll have something delivered so you can eat when you get up.”

“Can you cook?” He sat up slowly, hissing a couple of times. “There’s plenty of food in the kitchen. Just make something.”

“Yeah, I can cook.” I stayed where I was as he slid back until his body was resting against mine. “Tell me when you’re ready. I’ll try to keep it as painless as possible.”

I heard him take a couple of deep breaths before he tilted his head to the side. “Go ahead.” I started to lean in when Jim spoke again. “You know, I don’t usually allow anyone be this close to me, let alone have the chance to bleed me dry. I don’t trust people. I don’t know you. There are plenty of people who would love to have me dead. Hell, most of them would pay for that to happen.”

He went quiet for a couple of minutes. “I never let anyone see me wounded, see me bleed. That’s a very dangerous thing. People stop thinking of you as this monster and they see you as human. You become ordinary.” His hands clenched into fists. “I am so very far from ordinary, Lindsey. I’m something people speak about in hushed tones. I’m the thing that lurks in the shadows of the criminal underworld. I’ve got my fingers in a thousand pies and my hands on hundreds of strings. I give a tug and people dance.”

“How long did they have you in that place, Jim?” I had a pretty good idea of the answer to that. I could read it on Jim’s skin in the bruises and the healing wounds. I could see marks left by fists, shoes, boots, and a few assorted weapons. He wouldn’t have said anything either, wouldn’t have given them a damn thing unless he felt like it. He did things on his own terms, not on someone else’s. He probably didn’t even allow himself to register the pain until after they’d dumped him back in whatever holding cell they were using. He would have had to keep up the monster persona, especially to his enemies.

“Weeks.” I felt him shudder. “It shouldn’t have taken that long. He just kept me there because he could. I made him angry. He didn’t figure out what I was up to until after it was too late.” He laughed and the sound of it made my skin crawl. “He knows how it ends, he always does. He just can’t figure out what happens between now and then. That’s always a mystery. He knows and he still set me free. If I knew what he did, and I was in his place, I’d never let me go.”

“Jim, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” He turned his body so he could see my face. “I don’t mean what regular people would think is the worst thing. I mean what you personally think is the worst thing you’ve ever done and afterwards, did you feel guilty about it at all?”

He rubbed his temple. “When I was a child, there was a nasty boy who wouldn’t leave me alone. I’ve always been smart, always been years ahead of others my own age. Billy was bigger than me and he had this whole group of friends who would join in. One day I’d finally had enough and I thought about a dozen ways I could get back at him. Then I realized that if I really wanted to make him hurt, really wanted to make him pay, I should do something more. I burned his place to the ground while he was spending the night at a friend’s house. His whole family was inside. Billy lost everyone, even his little dog. I think about the dog sometimes. I should have kept it for myself instead of using it to start the fire. It was so soft.”

“Three years ago, this guy in a bar figured out I was a vampire. I hadn’t noticed the small mirror in the corner. He tells me he has some illness that doesn’t have a cure and he wants me to turn him so he won’t die.” I shook my head. “I don’t turn people. I tried to tell him that and he wouldn’t leave me alone. He was begging and pleading and making this huge scene, so I grabbed him by the wrist and I yanked him out the door with me and into the alley. And I told him I was going to do it. I drain him to the point where he’s just a few breaths away from death, right? And then I walked away. I left him there. I called an ambulance as I walked away.”

“You gave him hope and snatched it away.” Jim smiled at me. “You’re a sick individual.”

“So are you.” He turned back around and tilted his head again. “Hold still, Jim.” I ran my tongue along his throat before sinking my fangs through his skin. He made a delightful whimpering sound as I began to drink. I drank slowly, savoring the flavor of his blood on my tongue. It would also give him the chance to change his mind about the whole thing. He never asked me to stop or tried to pull away. When Jim went limp, I finished stitching the wounds closed.

\---

I brought the tray with the food into the bedroom and sit it down on the bed next to Jim. “My culinary skills aren’t the greatest, but this should all be edible. I don’t get to cook much anymore.”

“It smells good.” He picked up the sandwich and took a bite. “Tastes fine to me.”

I watched him eat for a few minutes. The bite marks on his neck stood out on his pale skin. “Why’d you tell me all that stuff earlier, Jim?”

He looked away from me. “I don’t talk to many people, at least not like that. I thought maybe you would understand.”

I did understand. Being not quite normal was rather lonely. “I figure it’ll be about a week before you’re in decent shape again. The bruises will start to fade. I can probably take the stitches out by then. Do you want some company?”

“No more biting?” He touched the marks. “It wasn’t bad, but I’d rather not do it again.”

“I’ll go out to eat.” What I’d taken from him wasn’t enough. I would need to head out as soon as the sun set. “I’ll come back though, if you want me to.”

“Really?” He suddenly looked much younger and more vulnerable than before. “Maybe you could tell me about some of your cases, the weirder the better.”

“You’re in luck. I don’t think any of my cases would be considered normal.” I sat down in a chair facing the bed. There was still some time before I’d be able to leave. “One of my first cases involved a demon who used to dress up as a magician and entertain at birthday parties for children. He went under the name ‘The Amazing Waldo’. He did this trick where he’d make balloon animals actually come to life and they’d run around the room. One day he was at a party and this guy started giving him a hard time, calling him a fake, and Waldo didn’t take that well. Never make a demon angry because it will always end in blood. I’d heard the phrase ‘tear your arm off and beat you with it’, but I’d never actually seen it until that day.

“He really tore off the man’s arm?” Jim had lost all interest in the food and was now leaning forward, paying close attention to what I was saying.

“Took it off at the shoulder the way a man rips the leg off a roast turkey. So there I was fresh out of law school, working for this impressive law firm and my demon client had beaten a guy almost to death with his own arm. I had to come up with some sort of a plausible defense a jury would believe. I was always damn good at my job, one of their brightest and best. Not only did I turn it around so the jury felt bad for my client, but after we won, we sued the man with the missing arm for pain and suffering. We won that too.”

“That’s brilliant.” Jim set the tray on the table next to the bed. “Here, sit on the bed. It’ll be more comfortable.”

I did what he asked. “I told you something of mine, now tell me something of yours.”

“I don’t like to get my hands dirty. That wasn’t always the case. See, when I was first working on making a name for myself, I had to do things that were over the top and unusually messy because those are the types of things that people don’t forget.” He smiled. “I made a guy eat his own intestines once.”

\---

The conversation went back and forth as afternoon turned to evening. I didn’t even notice it had gotten dark until Jim pointed it out. Reluctantly, I got off the bed. “I’ll be back after I get someone to eat. We’ll pick up where we left off, okay?”

“That sounds wonderful.” He eased his body down onto the mattress and closed his eyes. “Wake me when you get back.”

“I will.” Actually, I planned on letting him sleep because he needed the rest. I turned the light off as I left the room.


End file.
